girlfriend raves about this stuff and got me a bottle. pours out like grapefruit juice. pink in color with a small white head. very unexpected. the nose is subdued, hint of raspberries and grapefruit, a hint of malt. nice smooth carbonation, tingly. flavor wise its citrusy, fruity, a light hint of grainy malt... not intense at all. but refreshing and could easily replace a soda in the right situation.

Appearance: Ruby, as the name implies, carries with it a rather pinkish / orangish hue (which is probably to be expected from a beer brewed with raspberries). This beer is by no means red / purple and is translucent when held to the light. There was a nice head initially, which dissipated with time, leaving minimal lacing as I finished my beer.

Smell: The nose on this beer is one of the berries that give the beer it's coloring (raspberries). It's a pleasant smell that hints at the flavor to follow.

Taste: The fruit taste to this beer is not overwhelming, but rather, just enough to let you know that there was definitely some fruit involved in the brewing process. Overall, it's a nice taste to compliment a hot day.

Mouthfeel: The mouthfeel of Ruby is nothing out of the ordinary. Mild carbonation and a lighter body.

Drinkability: Very good! On a hot day, it's hard to beat a beer like this. I would highly recommend a cold Ruby when the temperature rises.

Originally sampled on 21 August 2002. I am writing this review from my notes.
Appearance: The color is almost like ruby grapefruit juice.
Flavor: This beer has a nice tart/sweet taste. It is definitely different. I like it. I'm always willing to try something a little different & McMenamin's, in my opinion, is successfull w/ this one. Also, I think that it is a good hot weather beer

On tap @ the Cedar Hills pub. This beer is quite a cloudy sawdust color w/ just a hint of pink. No head whatsoever. Server categorized it as an "amber ale w/raspberries", but it sure looks like an unfiltered wheat. Here goes...

Taste is just slightly tart, no bitterness as I can't detect any hops at all. Very thin, barely there malt backdrop becomes evident about halfway through. More tea flavor, as well as some very faint grapefruit notes. No alcohol warming (only 3.3% by volume).

Body is somewhat heavier than you might expect, there's a lot of sediment in this. Not much carbonation to speak of.

Though intitially intrigued, I found myself disappointed. This seems like a beer without an identity. IMO, if you are going to use raspberries in your beer, it should either be rich and sweet(like a frambrozen), or crisp and refreshing(good fruit-infused hefe's are widely available). This is neither, although it could be a decent summer thirst quencher if some of the excess sediment was filtered out. All in all, I found this to basically be a novelty beer for the non-beer drinker in your group. The brewery website says that the hops used to make this "vary", so I may revisit this next summer.